What is this about?
Causes and effects of rising trade and cross-cultural contact in the Indian Ocean
- Islam was very pro-merchant and even encouraged people to travel to far distances to trade
- Remember Muhammad was a merchant
Causes of Expanded Exchange in the Indian Ocean
Spread of Islam
- Although Indian Ocean trade had existed since 200 BCE, one change is the rise of mercantile activity due to the spread of Islam
- Cities on the west coast such as Calicut became prominent trading centers where merchants from East Africa and the Middle East would come from
- Calicut was special in that it was a place where merchants sought spices from Southern India
- Foreign merchants would often come from Arabia or China
Increased Demand for Specialized Products
- Every region had something unique to offer
- India:
- Became famous for its high quality fabrics, particularly cotton
- Also for carpets, steel, and pepper from Southern India
- Malaysia and Indonesia:
- Referred to as the Spice Islands
- Had nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom
- Swahili coastal cities (East Africa):
- Ivory, gold, slaves
- China:
- Silk and porcelain
- Middle East:
- Horses, figs, dates
Indian Ocean Slave Trade
- Through Indian Ocean sea routes, slaves from East Africa were sold to the Middle East, India, and southeast Asia
- Reached its peak in the 1700s and 1800s
- Slaves were most likely to work as household servants or provide forced labor to seaports
- Due to the Indian Ocean slave trade, African traditions, customs, and influences can be found in India
Environmental Knowledge
- Knowledge of monsoon winds became much more important and got better
- qarib = navigational charts based on monsoon wind knowledge used by Indian and Arab sailors to navigate the Indian ocean
- Were crucial for a sailor to be able to sail safely
Advances in Maritime Technology
- Lanteen sails were triangular sails that could catch the Indian Ocean’s winds from different directions; used by Arab sailors
- Stern rudder, invented by Chinese, gave ships more stability and made them easier to maneuver
- Astrolabe, which told how far north or south one was from the equator, was improved on by Muslim navigators in the 1100s
Growth of States
- Many states prospered and profited off trade in the Indian Ocean
- Ex: Malacca (modern day Malaysia):
- Muslim city state whose prosperity was based pretty much entirely off trade
- Built a navy and got rich by imposing fees on ships that passed through the Strait of Malacca
- Strait many sailors passed through in order to go from India to China and vice versa
- Got so powerful that Malacca invaded Sumatra and other places nearby
- Fell when Portuguese conquered the city-state in the 1500s
- Portuguese hoped that they could make massive profits; were somewhat successful
Effects of Expanded Exchange in the Indian Ocean
Diasporic Communities
- Settlements of people away from their homeland are known as a diaspora
- Cross-cultural interactions was inevitable due to trade
- Many Arab and East African merchants stayed in western Indian port cities as they married women they met there
- Merchants from the Dar al-Islam first brought Islam to India through intermarriage (not conquest or missionary work!)
Response to Increased Demand
- States started raising money through customs (taxes on imported goods) so that they could be used to fund stuff like seaports to scale to the increase in trade
- Gujarat became the go-to place for trade between the East and the West, and the amount of money it raised through customs was more than the entire economies of several Western European nations combined!
Swahili City-States
- Swahili city-states were thriving city states on the coast of East Africa
- Also known as the “Zanj Coast” in Arabic
- The city states were predominantly Muslim
- Consisted of, but not limited to: Kilwa, Mombasa, Zanzibar
- Sold ivory, gold, slaves to Arab merchants and got Chinese porcelain and Indian cotton
Voyages of Zheng He
- Was a Chinese Muslim admiral under the Ming Dynasty
- Ming emperor Yongle made him leader of several naval expeditions
- Purpose of expeditions were to:
- show off the strength of the Ming Dynasty to the world
- establish trade and diplomatic relations with other countries
- Generally tried to use diplomacy to achieve his goals, if that failed he would use violence
- His vessels were so large and powerful he could easily overcome any resistance he encountered
- Expeditions were largely successful:
- Helped solidify the Ming’s reputation throughout the states he traveled to
- Brought in new ideas to China
- However his voyages stirred controversy:
- Confucianists promoted stability and viewed his voyages as dangerous as they feared that greater foreign interactions would wreck this stability
- Yongle’s successor ended Zheng He’s voyages
- Primary reasons were a) they were facing the threat of Mongols up north and they needed to devote resources to that and b) the naval expeditions were too expensive
- His voyages helped to end pirate activity off the coast of China, but when his voyages ended the pirate activity resumed
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